The ALA Medal of Excellence is an annual award bestowed by the American Library Association for recent creative leadership of high order, particularly in the fields of library management, library training, cataloging and classification, and the tools and techniques of librarianship.[1] It was first awarded in 1953 to Ralph R. Shaw, Director of the National Agriculture Library.
The award name was changed in 2020 from the Melvil Dewey Medal to the ALA Medal of Excellence.[2]